MESOTHELIOMA DIAGNOSIS

Pleural mesothelioma diagnosis typically takes many trips to your physician as it is clearly hard to detect. You may not observe actual mesothelioma symptoms until many years after your first exposure to asbestos. This makes pleural mesothelioma diagnosis a difficult process.

Patients with this type of mesothelioma first experience general difficulty in breathing as well as pain in the lower back or at the side of the chest. Other mesothelioma symptoms may include hoarseness, difficulty swallowing or sweating and fevers with rapid weight loss. An increase in waist size or abdominal pain may be a symptom of the growth of cancer cells in the abdominal area and peritoneal mesothelioma. If you discover a mass but are still losing weight you may be in for a mesothelioma diagnosis. Both peritoneal and pleural mesothelioma patients may have poor appetites and become gaunt and thin. Your doctor may begin your pleural mesothelioma diagnosis by analyzing your mesothelioma symptoms, which could also be signs of other cancerous or non-cancerous diseases including things like indigestion, pneumonia or heartburn.

Even if you currently have no mesothelioma symptoms, however, it is important to tell your doctor if you have had any significant exposure to asbestos in the past 40 years. This will help your doctor carefully monitor your health over the years, being on the look-out for asbestos diseases such as asbestosis as well as for peritoneal and pleural mesothelioma. With proper detection and prompt attention you may prolong your life by 5-10 years or more. If you do have mesothelioma symptoms, your physician will ask for details about your exposure to asbestos and perform a complete medical examination before making a mesothelioma diagnosis. You may be asked to provide many different samples including urine or tissue. Proper imaging is also a common part of the diagnostic process. Imaging tests include x–rays, CT scans, MRI scans, and PET. Physicians use both sampling and imaging techniques to make the mesothelioma diagnosis process easier and to help distinguish the mesotheliomas from other diseases and ailments.

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